Top 10 shooting schools

Michael Yardley spins the clay discs and rates his hits. Pick one of these top 10 shooting schools to brush up on your skills

No matter how experienced a shot you are, an expert eye can be helpful.

The Top 10 shooting schools is valuable knowledge whether you are a complete novice or a seasoned shot. Brushing up on your technique is always a great idea, and if you are struggling for Christmas gift inspiration, a private lesson makes for a thoughtful and generous present. Choose one of Michael Yardley’s top 10 shooting schools and learn from the very best.

TOP 10 SHOOTING SCHOOLS

There are many places where one can shoot clay pigeons in Britain. There are, however, not so many establishments that might properly be called shooting schools. The latter are distinguished by their broad expertise, by their facilities (which allow for the simulation of gamebird-shooting as well as conventional clay-busting) and, most of all, by their reputation for effective instruction at all levels. Some are known for teaching a particular style and some have a speciality, or a quality, that sets them apart from the mass.

Our Top 10 shooting schools may be described as the universities of our sport, centres of excellence for higher shooting education (and a “grand tour” of them might be deemed part of the journey to becoming a complete shot). They are repositories of shooting wisdom where you might go yourself or confidently send your son, daughter or an old but inexperienced friend to learn the art and the science of shooting well.

I have not included my excellent home ground, Fennes, in Essex, in the top 10 shooting schools lest I be accused of bias, nor have I, with two exceptions included a ground at which I have not shot frequently. It is appropriate,meantime, to give honourable mentions to some grounds/schools that have many admirers but of which my own experience is old, limited or absent: Southern Counties (the official training ground for the 2012 Olympics); East Yorkshire Gun Club (renowned for trap); The Joe Neville Shooting School at Matlock (Joe was the first man to shoot 200 straight at Olympic skeet); Bywell in Northumberland; Mid Wales, near Wrexham; Southdown in West Sussex (fa-mous for Dave Peckham’s testing sporting targets); Howard Kirby’s welcoming Lains Shooting School; David Olive’s Apsley (David was taught by Percy Stanbury and the Rose brothers); Doveridge in Derbyshire; Mark Russell’s Grims-thorpe; Mike Meggison’s Kelbrook Shooting School; Mike Reynolds’s Mid-Norfolk (scene of many a championship), the late Michael Pinker’s Lady’s Wood; and, in Scotland, North Ayrshire and Gleneagles.

THE TOP 10 IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

The Top Ten are given in alphabetical order (because we could find no fairer way to do it).